2024 wine grape harvest comes early with good quality, quantity

Overall, Texas wine grape producers have enjoyed one of their best harvests of the past five years, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts.

Grape growers in most areas did face increased pest and disease pressure, and vineyards in multiple regions reported heavy hail damage to fruit and vines. But most growers around the state reported outstanding quality and above-average yields from harvests that started earlier than normal.

"This has been a good year for most wine grape growers across the state," said Justin Scheiner, AgriLife Extension statewide viticulture specialist and associate professor in the Texas A&M Department of Horticultural Sciences, Bryan-College Station. "Mother Nature cooperated with us for the most part this year."

Despite a good year for grapes, wine sales in general in the U.S. are down.

That drop in consumption, in addition to a high yielding year, translates to some buyers not having the tank space to accommodate as much, especially after 2023 which was also an overall good year for fruit yield.

"Unfortunately, that is a challenge for some growers this year," said Patrick O'Brien, AgriLife Extension viticulture specialist and assistant professor in the Department of Horticultural Sciences, Lubbock. "If they have nowhere to sell their fruit, they may have no choice but to drop some."

Just a decade ago, Scheiner said, there were around 200 wineries and 3,000 planted wine grape acres. In 2000, there were only 40 wineries.

Today, Texas has an estimated over 11,000 acres of wine grapes and 800 wineries, he said. The state produces thousands of different wines with 70 different named grape varieties.

AgriLife Extension viticulturists shared their assessments of the 2024 grape harvest across the four main growing regions.

North Texas

For North Texas grape growers, this season was a complete 180-degrees from last year, said Michael Cook, AgriLife Extension viticulture program specialist, Denton.

With fewer days of 100-plus temperatures, a milder summer and enough moisture to avoid drought, North Texas growers were in far better shape than they found themselves in 2023.

"The summer wasn't too cruel to the vines in most cases, so we even started harvesting whites a little earlier than normal this year and then the reds started a week or two earlier than normal," Cook said. "The 2024 North Texas vintage will be excellent."

However, the spring moisture did mean growers had to be on their "A-game" when it came to pest and disease management, he said.

"Those growers that didn't have a really good management strategy started struggling from the get-go, but most growers were able to manage pests and disease very well," Cook said.

Hill Country

Early rains also helped vineyards in the Texas Hill Country set a nice crop, Scheiner said, and many locations were able to harvest slightly early.

Disease pressure, including Pierce's disease, was above normal. Rains later in the season led to some vineyards having a downy mildew fungus problem in the summer as well as black rot. The quality of the Hill Country harvest was exceptional for growers able to mitigate impacts to vines.

Cook said that many growers in the Hill Country are now utilizing hail netting in their canopies, which helped to save some crops.

Crop hail nets are one of the big purchases vineyards in various regions are investing in to protect their crops from extreme weather events.

Gulf Coast

Overall, grape harvests in the Gulf Coast resulted in good quality fruit despite a wet spring.

The humidity and high vegetation of the Gulf Coast region can translate to heavy disease pressure, and this year's load was greater than 2023, when drought kept fungal diseases and some pests at bay, Scheiner said. The Gulf Coast region also has some heavy clay soils, which can be problematic with too much rain since they can stay wet for months.

Most wine grapes in the Gulf Coast are hot climate varieties that fare well in the Texas heat but can struggle with too much rain or extended cold spells. This year's weather was ideal for optimum quality and quantity.

"Blanc du bois is a really common grape in the Gulf Coast area because it is well suited to grow in these conditions," Scheiner said. "Texas is actually the largest producer of blanc du bois to the world."

After the winter weather of 2021, producers feared they'd lost a high percentage of their blanc du bois vines. That freeze was then followed by two years of drought, adding another stressor to the plants.

Retired AgriLife Extension Gulf Coast region viticulturist Fran Pontasch, who is now growing her own grapes, couldn't be happier about this year's harvest in both quality and quantity.

"This year really felt like a victory," she said. "All those blanc du bois vines we'd been so worried about for years not only came back but produced a ton of fruit."

High Plains

The High Plains, which accounts for 80%-85% of the state's wine grape harvest, is nearing harvest completion, O'Brien said. Yields were slightly lower compared to last season, but still above the five-year average for the region.

"This year the fruit set was good, as was the canopy development," O'Brien said. "As we approach the end of the harvest, I have to say overall the harvest was very good, the quality was very good."

Hot weather at the end of the season sped up ripening and some producers reported their earliest harvests ever.

Last year was also very good for High Plains grapes with high yields and O'Brien said the yields were high again this year although perhaps a little bit lower yet still higher than the average yield for the last five years.

The relatively mild winter made for minimal cold damage. The season did, however, start with below-average temperatures, which concerned growers. Early season rain also caused some increased weed pressure. There was some high insect pest pressure in some areas, and leafhoppers were a challenge for some growers.